After the founding of DataCite, leading research libraries and information centres converged for the first official members’ convention in Paris on 5 February 2010. The inclusion of five further members was approved in the office of the International Council for Science (ICSU): Australian National Data Service (ANDS);[7] Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Medizin (ZB MED); GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften; French Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (INIST);[8] and Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich.

The primary means of establishing easier access to research data is by DataCite members assigning persistent identifiers, such as digital object identifiers (DOIs), to data sets. Although currently leveraging the well-established DOI infrastructure, DataCite takes an open approach to identifiers, and considers other systems and services that help forward its objectives.[9]